After thinking about it some more, I just can't believe that there was any other intention than this.

Now, in one fell swoop, Chinese regulators have: instant control over the leak of such funds from their residents that previously was spilling out of the country into the west, can gain more control over such future wealth distribution than they could with original ICOs (e.g. by subsequently making the "Chinese ethereum" NEO effectively a state-sanctioned distributor of chinese altcoins and dapps going forward), display their strength in worldwide financial markets by demonstrating the impact of a single blow of theirs on the entire crypto market, in a way they could never do with any other asset, and make themselves seem like altruistic protectors of the downtrodden masses that otherwise would have been "hurt" absent their involvement (a.k.a. whitehat).

Damn, the Chinese really know how to play it...